China up close

19 September 2024
In Xi Jinping's China, local government officials are using a metaphor about selling woks as scrap metal as they struggle to pay down their mountains of debt. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty Images and Yusuke Hinata)
Shortly after Xi Jinping became president of China, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily concluded for the first time that the status of Okinawa was "unresolved," despite decades of official recognition of Okinawa as part of Japan. (Source photo by Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: China moves to play 'Okinawa card' over Japan's Taiwan stance

'Ryukyu research center' could reverse Beijing's position since Mao era

12 September 2024
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, left, stand with Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia before a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing on Aug. 29.
China up close

Analysis: General's smile hints at changes in China power balance

Top military brass return to forefront of diplomacy with U.S.

5 September 2024
Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. A Xinhua commentary in July appeared intended to muddy the waters as to who should be credited with the reforms that helped China build the world's second largest economy. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata and Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: Elders stay faithful to Deng over 'reformer Xi Jinping'

Summer rebellion forces Xinhua to delete a commentary that rewrote party history

29 August 2024
Xi Jinping is determined not to be caught off guard by the policies of whoever wins the U.S. presidential election in November, Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata and Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: U.S. election could dictate Xi Jinping's political schedule

Bitter lesson from 2016 Clinton-Trump race reverberates through Beijing

22 August 2024
With recently announced draft regulations calling for national internet IDs, Xi Jinping is seen maneuvering to further control online speech. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Kyodo, Reuters, and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Xi Jinping's draft internet ID law sparks '1984' fears

Online criticism goes viral, then disappears on eve of Beidaihe meeting

8 August 2024
President Xi Jinping must know property-related tax reform is needed, but party cadres with vested interests stand in his way. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: 'Chinese dream' gives way to an urban legend in Shenzhen

Real estate heartache leads to a tale of couples feigning divorce to get a loan

1 August 2024
Xi Jinping might have just given himself an ace in the hole in his high-stakes game of politics to extend his reign beyond 2027. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by AP and Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: China's new 2029 reform goal shows Xi Jinping is worried

New target might also be a gambit to help a decoupled China emerge strong

25 July 2024
Chinese Premier Li Qiang at a recent international gathering stirred up concerns that President Xi Jinping will have to address this week at a big economic planning meeting. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata, Mizuho Miyazaki, and Kyodo)
China up close

Analysis: The global economy needs China to be straightforward

Key party meeting reflects Xi Jinping's favorite ideas after Li's unintended slip

18 July 2024
From left: Xi Jinping, his wife Peng Liyuan, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu. There is speculation that Xi's wife has become a military adviser of sorts to her husband. (Nikkei montage/Reuters and Kyodo)
China up close

Analysis: Military purges put Xi Jinping's singer-wife in the spotlight

Speculation is rife over whether Peng Liyuan is helping Xi control China's military

11 July 2024
Left to right: Tianjin Tower pays tribute to Hu Youping on June 28. A bouquet is offered for Hu Youping near a bus stop believed to be the site where Hu was attacked by a knife wielder going after a Japanese mother and child on June 30. (Source photos by Kyodo and AP)
China up close

Analysis: Tragedy shows China's anti-Japan social media fire burns out of control

Other stabbings reflect a society that cannot vent its social and economic frustrations

4 July 2024
Xi Jinping at the Chinese Communist Party's big agenda-setting meeting in 2013. China watchers, eagerly awaiting news on where the new president would take the country, failed to hone in on the key signals. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by AP and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Don't misread Xi Jinping's intentions at his big meeting

Politics will come before economics as it always has in China's new era

20 June 2024
The excitement of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road, announced in 2013, convinced a developer to build an island and city off the coast of Malaysia. Now China's property sector woes have left investors in unbearable financial straits. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata and Reuters)
China up close

Analysis: Xi Jinping's Belt and Road leaves Malaysia with a 'ghost' island

Forest City project in Johor remains in limbo as Beijing prepares for key meeting

13 June 2024
The Goddess of Democracy statue goes up in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on May 29, 1989. A replica of the statue would later stand in Hong Kong. Another replica appeared in Tokyo on June 3. 
China up close

Analysis: A new generation of Chinese democracy seekers gathers in Tokyo

'Goddess of Democracy' comes to Japan to mark 35th Tiananmen anniversary

6 June 2024
To Xi Jinping, controlling Taiwan is the key to China gaining national prestige and to himself ensuring his political legacy. (Nikkei montage/Yusuke Hinata and Kyodo)
China up close

Analysis: A 1950 map foreshadows what Xi Jinping has in mind today

The Korean War and Battle of Lake Changjin hold lessons for U.S. and Chinese leaders

30 May 2024
Lai Ching-te begins his presidency of Taiwan with little room to maneuver, pinned in by Xi Jinping and the Kuomintang, Taiwan's largest opposition party. (Source photos by AP and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Xi Jinping weighs options as Taiwan inaugurates a new president

China can consider a blockade or hope the opposition KMT undermines Lai Ching-te

23 May 2024
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing in June 2023, left, and then again in April 2024. Notice the difference in indoor plants from one meeting to the next. (Source photos by Reuters)
China up close

Analysis: Xi Jinping sends a message but no flowers to Antony Blinken

China's symbolism indicates that relations with U.S. are deteriorating further

2 May 2024
The three new forces emerging from China's latest military reorganization will have to report everything to Xi Jinping. Failure to do so will not be tolerated. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata and Getty Images)
China up close

Analysis: The ulterior motive behind Xi Jinping's latest military reforms

Reorganization of Strategic Support Force shows Xi preparing for a fourth term

25 April 2024
Xi Jinping and Joe Biden found novel diplomatic channels to send each other messages on April 10. Xi used a former Taiwanese president to carry his words, while Biden spoke up by hosting the leaders of Japan and the Philippines. (Source photos by Getty Images and Xinhua/Kyodo)
China up close

Analysis: Why Xi and Biden chose the same day to send a message on Taiwan

The wording of a 45-year-old U.S. law gives China an opening in the Taiwan Strait

18 April 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping and former Justice Minister Tang Yijun. Xi's crackdown on political foes might be morphing into a purge of old allies. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty Images, Kyodo, and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Xi Jinping's latest purge hints property crisis has reached inner circle

Former justice minister with possible links to Evergrande under corruption investigation

11 April 2024
Global investors are trying to puzzle out what President Xi Jinping puts first, his regime's security or economic growth. Hong Kong's recent history offers a clue. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Yusuke Hinata and Ken Kobayashi)
China up close

Analysis: Hong Kong's lost freedom shows Xi Jinping's priorities

Causeway Bay Books incident was a harbinger of regime's security-first principle

4 April 2024
In Xi Jinping's China, Japan-bashing has become the politically safest way for people to vent their frustration. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Japan-bashing Chinese unwittingly target Xi's lucky temple

What might be a shallow-minded movement promises a commercial jackpot

28 March 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping has decreed that Chinese maps use two names for this Russian port city, Vladivostok and Haishenwai, the name before the Treaty of Peking was signed in 1860. (Nikkei montage/Source photo by Reuters and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: Xi-Putin honeymoon at risk as Chinese flood into Russia

History tells of Ukrainians being exploited to counterbalance a large Chinese presence

21 March 2024
Xi Jinping, Qin Gang and Wang Yi. Xi's leadership team likely has yet to decide what to do with Qin, the former foreign minister who has disappeared from public view and been replaced by Wang. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Mizuho Miyazaki and Yusuke Hinata)
China up close

Analysis: The story behind Chinese leaders' unspoken words

Missing foreign minister and Japan went unaddressed at National People's Congress

14 March 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang attend the opening session of the National People's Congress on March 5. (Photo by Mizuho Miyazaki)
China up close

Analysis: Post-Tiananmen 'openness' fades from Chinese politics

Xi advocates for a 'high-standard opening-up' but his regime is backsliding

7 March 2024